The Price We Pay
by Fiercest
Summary: On building tomorrow.


**52 Flavours: Prompt #11 Perhaps one at last will be left to grow in peace.**** (Take 2?)**

--

The Price We Pay

--

"Get out of here!" Minato shouted from the stree below, trying to ignore the fast flowing puddle of blood at his feet, edging towards the gutter at an alarming rate. "I'm going to need Shizune!" he applied more pressure to Anko's wounded shoulder as she convulsed beneathe his fingertips.

And because he was nothing if not sentimental he remembered her in what he knew would very likely be her final moments.

He had met Mitarashi Anko through the joint efforts of Jiraiya and Orochimaru. They had each been on their separate genin teams and there were times when the more boisterous of the two sanins grew lazy and just dropped them off with his friend's team while he went to the bath houses.

Anko had always been the person he went to when he was angry, though rare as it was. She knew exactly what to say to get it all out and she allowed herself to be his punching bag on occasion though him being hers was the more frequent scenario.

"The blood's coming too fast! Where the hell is it coming from?!" he was shouting.

It was then that he realised that there were another pair of darkened, sunkissed hands applying pressure to Anko's side.

"Kushina," he tries to keep his voice level. "I told you to get out of here."

"You _need_ me. You cant be out here with just the kid as your backup." She was refering to Kakashi of course, there were no others anymore. He had still had to remind himself, each and every day since.

"You're pregnant."

She glared, "It doesn't show. And I'm sure little Naru-chan will understand." Her using the name he'd picked had the intended affect.

"I thought you didn't like it."

"I changed my mind." She paused before adding. "And I'll be fine."

He was still staring at her, mesmerized.

"Umm…" a cough, "I hate to interrupt your moment and all, but can you guys wait until I at least pass out from blood loss before getting all lovey dovey?" Anko griped weakly.

"I'm here!" Shizune announced, running to sit by Minato, Kushina and Anko before asking a long list of questions which ended with, "Should you really be out here Kushina-san? In your condition-"

She silenced his student with a glare. "Cram a tinkertoy in it, Sunshine. I'm fine."

And Shizune began to heal.

Minato stood up with Kakashi and Kushina and looked around at the blackening sky, the smoke billowing from buildings and the streets lined with corpses of both friend and foe.

The Great War was not yet over.

--

Meanwhile in the hidden room under the basement of the Uchiha household four children sat in silence.

Uchiha Itachi, Haww Renaii, Uchiha Sasuke and Haww Shinji.

They heard the explosions and Renaii held the four year old closer as Itachi shifted the bundle that was his baby brother into a more comfortable position.

"We should be out there!" the girl complained, frustrated. She had just come over for dinner, it wasn't supposed to be a big deal. Uchiha-san just wanted to see to it that she and Shinji had some actual home coking, since their latest step-mother had moved out.

"Father said to stay." Itachi protested, as if it solved all arguments for them.

"I don't care," she said as another crash rocked the house. The great war…it had never come this close to home before. And they were genin. They were never sent out on such assignments.

None of these four children had ever seen death.

But tonight they would.

"I'm going," she kissed Shinji's forehead, and burst through the trap door, tips of her fingers glowing, the sword she'd given Itachi for his last birthday in hand.

"Ren!" With a frustrated growl he looked from the trapdoor that has just banged shut to the two young boys. His indecision didn't last long. He knew who needed him more. "Shinji, take Sasuke."

"But Itachi-nii-!" the child's keening worry was cut off when the door shut once again behind him.

--

"Where the hell is Anko?" Ibiki growled, blocking an incoming attack with a kunai. "She should be here by now!"

"I'm sure it'll be fine," Genma, the ever lax 13 year old blew off the worries as he always did as he punched a rock nin in the stomach.

His teammate Hana, barked orders at her fighting partner; the nindog called Karo no Inu, to take down a ninja who's mace was aimed for the crown of Ibiki's head.

"I am so glad my cousin isn't out here to see this," Genma sighed with relief. Hayate was a soft-hearted kid. Smart, but not in the way he needed to be. And this was a battle that would decide the war. He couldn't have that on his shoulders.

"There's the original!" Ibiki announced, pointing at a man with a dark visor over his eyes. He had been creating the steady stream of reanimated bodies that had been coming after them.

These shinobi were certainly those to contend with.

And what frightened the troup was that they had no idea who would win.

--

"I'm worried about the children," Mikoto confessed, red eyes spinning. "You know Ren, she'll want to join the fight. And if she goes Itachi will and then where would Sasuke and Shin-chan be?" she fretted.

Her husband laid a firm hand on her shoulder before bringing his fist back over his shoulder, knuckle-knife in hand to stab the enemy in the eye. "They are safe down there. And I should hope that Itachi wouldn't be so foolish as to defy my direct orders."

"He's your _son_," she reminded him with a glare, "Not your underling. Those arent orders, they are a parent's instructions." She paused, "and you know he would."

"Yes."

"You'd do the same for Minato."

"…"

"Exactly."

And then there was a flash of purple, followed by grey.

Somehow Mikoto knew it was them.

Call it mother's instinct.

--

"This is splendid exercise!"

Oftentimes it amazed Asuma that this man could have such a happy outlook on a bloodbath. But that was Gai. And for some reason it didn't disturb him.

Okay, maybe a little.

"Yeah, sure." He grunts, exhausted with the weight and weariness that comes with being the son of the former hokage and fighting in a war.

"I shall make sure I defeat more enemies than my eternal rival!"

"Who is it this week?" He asked, although it was really more of a statement.

"I have yet to decide between Kakashi or Minato-sama."

--

"Can I get a lift?" Kushina demanded playfully, looking meaningfully up at a window sill two stories up.

"I am not _throwing_ you!" Minato turned a rather interesting shade of purple. "You're pregnant Dear. That means you take it easy!" his left eye twitched. Because of all this havoc their son (slash daughter) was going to grow up braindead and an idiot. Who is obsessed with Ramen. Gross. Did she really want that? Did she?! Or maybe her ulterior motive was assasination of Hokage via worrywart-ing.

"Fine then," he sighed with relief that she'd decided to be complacent. "I'll do it myself." Before he could stop her, Kushina had made two clones of herself who grabbed her by each arm and flung her up onto the roof of the building. "Look out bellow!"

Boom.

Dynamite.

Figures.

--

"How much longer?"

"Not long," was the impatient reply.

"Is now okay?"

"No."

"Come on!"

"I said no."

"By the time you're done your boyfriend will be a smear on the ground. Wanna know why? It's because you didn't let me go, you just had to make picture perfect fucking stitching sweetheart, which is stupid really, and lead to me not being able to go out there and massacre the maniacs trying to turn him into said smear leaving him alone to become the aforementioned _smear_. Now I'll ask again. Are. You. _Done_?"

"For fucks sake Anko, NO!"

"…Shizune-san…" Kakashi cut in, staring at his teammate, stunned, "did you just swear?"

"_**YES**_ KAKASHI. I SWORE. ALERT THE MOTHERFUCKING MEDIA! NOW WILL YOU PLEASE SIT STILL FOR FIVE FUCKING SECONDS MITARASHI?!"

Silence.

"Hey Kakashi," Anko sniggered. "I think I broke her."

--

The moment Renaii left the safety of the Uchiha compound her nostrils flared, the smell of blood was thick in the air, tangy and rustic.

Itachi caught up with her quickly and grabbed her by the shoulder, swinging her around. "Are you crazy? Get back inside." She wrenched away.

"No way, I'm going to help. Even one person can tip the balance you jerk."

"Not you. You're just a genin Ren."

She shrugged him off and kept running.

It was then that she encountered her first enemy ninja. In the twenty years that would follow that moment she would never forget his face, not even a moment. She remembered his perfect teeth, the boyish look about him and the blond hair, moving and glowing like a halo that made him seem almost beautiful to her, even then.

She was seven years old when she made her first kill.

Renaii hadn't even realised what had happened. She looked down at her hands stained in blood that wasn't hers.

She wouldn't make that first kill for another four months. She was still six years old. And Uchiha Itachi had stabbed her would-be killer, or victim (she wasn't yet sure) in the neck.

He panted above her, innocense lost but thought nothing of it. This girl was crazy, stupid, _reckless_ and it made his heart race when he saw that man, much older than he, poised to kill. She was his best friend. He had had to protect her. There was _no other option_. Shisui had been right.'

And so she held him tightly, until he stopped shaking.

Itachi had wanted to become a medic like his mother. He saw now that that could never be an option for him.

He was a killer; through and through.

--

"Are you done?"

The answering punch to the nose was answer enough thankyouverymuch. She didn't need to knee him where it hurts _too_.

Kushina was a very very cruel pregnant woman.

He was _never_ doing this again, one kid was enough.

"You are never touching me again if this is how you act every time I get pregnant," Kushina hissed at him.

His thoughts exactly.

--

Slap.

"Mikoto!"

Slap.

"Cease and desist!"

"My baby is out there with a bunch of crazy ninjas on the loose! How could you let this happen?!"

"Me?!"

Slap.

"You're being irrational!"

"_FIND_ them Fugaku!"

"I will if you _stop hitting me_, woman!"

--

Renaii and Itachi bodily dragged each other to the safety of the ransacked bakery. It appeared to be deserted at the moment and the pair of genin were too shaken to act appropriately.

"We shouldn't left the basement!" Itachi whispered yelled.

The girl winced under his glare, "I'm freaking sorry okay." Quieter than he'd ever heard her, Renaii retreated into herself, her shoulders curling in as if to shield her from the reality of his words and her mistakes. "What did it feel like?" She asked him, still quiet, after minutes of silence passed over them.

"Nothing," he replied, "I didn't feel anything."

He wondered if that spoke as many volumes as he thought it did.

Why the hell couldn't the universe just let him be a friggin Medic nin? Was is really that much to ask?

--

"…Well don't you have a set of lungs?"

Shizune went suddenly very, very still.

Kakashi and Anko sniggered in the background.

Tsunade; tall, imposing and busty quirked an eyebrow, first at the elder duo, then at Shizune who was still huffing from her explosion of annoyance at the pair of jounin. The woman leaned down a bit to poke her forehead, "Hello? You in there girl?" At Shizune's still stunned expression she snorted, "Well I guess not," She leapt into a nearby tree, "catch you kids later!" she called, before scampering away.

In four inch heels no less.

Impressive.

--

"You are so grounded that you'll grow _root_." Mikoto hissed.

Renaii, despite herself, snickered at her teammate.

"You too young lady."

She blinked, undecided about whether to laugh or cry. She's never been grounded before.

"You two are in _so_ much trouble." Fugaku grumbled.

The overwhelming happiness and belonging Renaii felt was overwhelmed by the pain of Itachi's mother grabbing hold of each of their ears and dragging them home.

Home.

--

"So…Naruto huh?"

"Shut up, idiot."

**A/N: This is one narsty piece of crap -hiss- I'm sort of ashamed actually.**

**I wish I could write Minato/Kushina properly T.T.**


End file.
